The Critical Minerals Crunch: Building Domestic Recovery Infrastructure

How are companies responding to supply chain vulnerabilities in critical minerals? What does it actually take to recover and reuse rare earths, lithium, and cobalt from end-of-life products at scale?

China controls 90% of rare earth processing, the refining stage that turns mined ore into usable materials for magnets, batteries, and electronics. Critical minerals are too valuable to landfill, but building profitable recovery systems requires new infrastructure, technology, and business models. This session explores how AI-powered valuation is making component harvesting economically viable, what technologies are unlocking value in end-of-life products, and why now is the moment for US investment in domestic critical minerals recovery.